


Inventory Sucks

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/M, Height Differences, Huddling For Warmth, Power Outage, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 05:06:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17053697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: It started out as Jester, owner of Traveler's Tattoos, doing a favor for Caleb, owner of Pocket Books. But one thing leads to another and now there's a snow storm.





	Inventory Sucks

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this started out as a prompt from everythingismusical on tumblr for a bookstore and tattoo shop au and I kind of got carried away. Like 5 thousand words carried away. Also this is the 50th widojest fanfic on AO3.

Jester groaned as she stretched. Inventory counts were the worst. It didn’t help that she told everyone that she could do it on her own. But, Beau finally managed to ask Yasha on a date and there was no way Jester was going to make them reschedule and Molly had worked overtime six days straight, so really Jester was doing herself a favor by telling him to go home. 

It was nearing midnight and Jester was still in the tattoo shop and expected to be there for at least two more hours. At least there was no one around to complain about how loud her music was for once. She nearly turned it up again when the shop’s phone started to ring. Jester sighed as she turned down the music and answered the phone. “Traveler’s Tattoos! This is Jester! How can I help you?”

“Uh, yes, hello? This is Caleb Widogast from Pocket Books across the street?” He had a thick Zemnian accent. Jester looked out the window to see that the used bookstore still had its lights on too. It had started to snow, but it was just light fat flakes so far. Someone, Caleb, was by the window looking back at her.

“Oh yeah! I see you!” Jester waved at Caleb who cautiously waved back. “Is there a problem?”

It looked like Caleb shook his head, but he stopped. “No, actually, ja. Can I ask for your help? There’s something that I can’t do on my own and I’d rather not have to wait till tomorrow and I noticed that there are still people at your shop and maybe oneof you can come over?” 

Jester gave it some thought. This could easily be a murder set up, but he didn’t know she was alone. “Sure. Just give me a moment.” She sent Molly a quick text while she put on her coat. -Hi Molly! Give me a call in half an hour and if i don’t answer assume that ive been murdered at the bookstore across the street. THNX!! <3<3<3- 

She left lights on and locked the door behind her. Caleb already was holding the door open at Pocket Books. Jester had seen him coming and going from the shop, but had never seen him up close, so she just knew him as the guy with red hair and a cat that always rode his shoulders. Really, the main thing Jester noticed was the cat and how it always wore a little coat. 

“Come in, it’s cold,” Caleb said. Together, Caleb and his cat looked about average size from across the street. But now face to face, it turned out he was close to half a head shorter than Jester. And his cat was the tiniest bengal she had ever seen. The fact of the matter was they were the cutest things Jester had ever seen. “Are you coming in?” he asked. “It’s snowing.”

“Oh, right!” Jester came in and Caleb closed the door behind them. Shaking the snow off her hair, she adjusted to the warm of being inside again. She’d never been in the book store before. It was brown and full of shelves that made all sorts of aisles and corridors. In front of one bookcase was a ladder on wheels. It took all of Jester’s willpower to not jump on it and ride it down the aisle. “So, what do you need help with?”

Caleb pointed at the top of the bookcase. There sat a little cluster of books. “Even with the ladder, I can’t reach them.” He looked down at the ground a blush growing on his face. “Usually I have one of the staff help me with that sort of thing, but all I got is Nott and we’re not repeating the book climbing incident,” he said very pointedly.

“Not? Or naught?” Jester asked confused.

“Nott spelled N-O-T-T,” said a voice behind Jester. Jester turned around to see a young woman even smaller than Caleb. She was wearing an oversized hoodie and was carrying some kind of flask. “And there was only one time that I knocked over a bookcase when I climbing it.”

Caleb glared at her. “Are you saying that you climbed up there more than once?”

Nott took a big swig from her flask and looked away.

“We’re going to save this discussion for later.” He turned back to Jester. “So, you’re, what, five seven, five eight?” Jester nodded. That was close enough to her height. “You should be able to reach those books then. After those, we’ll be done with inventory.”

“Lucky,” Jester said. “I’ve got a ton more to go through.”

“Oh, sorry. We’ll hurry up with this and then you can help the others at your shop,” Caleb said.

Jester rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, I’m kind of the only one doing the inventory tonight.”

“We can help,” Nott siad. “It’s only fair since you’re helping us.”

“I was looking forward to going to bed, but ja, it’s only fair,” Caleb said as he grabbed the ladder and pulled it into position. “There should be six books up there.”

It was easy for Jester to get all the books down. “Looks like there’s seven books.”

Caleb looked at the stack. “So that’s where Zemnian Nights went to. Thank you. We couldn’t have gotten an accurate count otherwise.”

“No problem,” Jester said as she went to scratch his cat’s chin.

“Um, please don’t,” Nott said. “Frumpkin’s on the job.” She pointed at Frumpkin’s little red coat. On the side it said “Service Animal - Do Not Touch”.

Jester shrunk back. “I’m sorry, I should’ve checked first.”

“It’s alright most service animals are dogs,” Caleb said with a hint of disdain in his voice. “People usually don’t think to check with cats.”

“What’s Frumpkin’s job?”

“He predicts death,” Nott said.

Jester’s eyes grew wide. “He knows who lives and die? Frumpkin, are you psychic? Does he know that future?”

Caleb sighed. “She means Frumpkin can tell when I’m sick and need to take my medicine or go to the hospital. Petting him distracts him from making sure I’m not dying.”

“Oh,” Jester said. “Frumpkin, I’m sorry I can’t pet you, but know that you’re amazing.”

Caleb chuckled. “Oh, he knows.”

Nott looked up between Jester and Caleb and smiled. “Welp, inventorying won’t get done on it’s own. I’ll finish up here and you two get started at the tattoo shop. Now get.” She practically pushed them out of the bookstore. The snow was already starting to build up outside.

“What has gotten into her?” Caleb asked out loud as they crossed the street. “Sorry, my sister can be a little … odd sometimes.”

“Oh, so you’re siblings. I was wondering if she was like your business partner or something.”

“Foster, but it counts. She helps out from time to time, but she has school to go to. Just the community college, but she’s getting A’s in all of her courses,” he said with a hint of pride.

Jester whistled. “She must be pretty smart.” She got out the keys and unlocked the door letting them in. 

“She’s very clever,” Caleb said, but then he winced. “When she’s not climbing on shelves.”

“Oh, like you haven’t done anything that ridiculous when you were that age.”

“I’m not just going to let her do anything dangerous,” Caleb snapped. “Sorry, sorry. I just don’t want her doing anything I did during my twenties.”

Jester took off her coat and shook off the snow. “Were you a wild child Caleb? Beau says that your twenties are pointless if you’ve never been chased by cops.” Of course, she said that after she got them arrested and Jester was sobbing in a jail cell. 

“Not so much wild as dumb.” Caleb kept his dark gloves on even after he took off his coat. “So where do we begin?”

“Right,” Jester said organizing her thoughts. She grabbed the checklist. “You go through the inks and I’ll take care of the needles since they’re a little complicated if you’re not used to them.”

Caleb nodded and methodically went through the ink cupboard reading out loud each label. Jester had to admit that it was a little distracting. “Is it okay if I turn some music on?”

“It’s your shop,” Caleb said. “Or at least you’re the one who works here.”

“Nah, I’m the owner,” Jester said proudly. True her mama paid for it, but Jester was the one who ran it and made it successful. “What about you? Do you own the Pocket Books?”

Caleb read out another label before answering her. “Ja, I bought it last year. I’ve always had a passion for books and wanted something that Nott could be proud of me for. What made you decide to own your own tattoo shop?”

“Well, everyone was all ‘oh Jester, you’re so good at art you should make a career of it’ and I was all ‘okay, I’ll do tattoos’ and then people were all ‘oh no, you shouldn’t do that’, so I was all ‘screw you, I’ll run the best tattoo shop ever’ and so I am now,” Jester explained. “What’s your opinion of Eurovision?”

Caleb stared at her for a moment. “My opinion of Eurovision will not be spoken of outside this room, will it?”

“No?”

“Turn it on,” Caleb said before going back to the inks.

Jester started with Abba and began counting the needles. Caleb’s reading of the ink took on the rhythm of Waterloo. 

“Done,” Caleb said after nine songs. Jester was only half way through the needles. 

“Did you get the ones in the upper cupboard too?”

Caleb looked up at the cupboard above the counter and his head. “No. Do you have a step stool?”

Jester paused. “I’ll get them down for you.” As Jester started pulling out the contents of the cupboard, the lights flickered overhead. She flinched at the sudden dark, but the lights returned steady.

“The wind sure is blowing out there,” Caleb said looking outside.

“Y-yeah,” Jester said trying to calm her nerves. “Maybe, this isn’t such a good idea after all. I can finish this tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” 

Jester nodded. “It’s really building up out there. I’d hate to get you trapped in here.” She also hated the idea of being trapped in there herself.

“I probably should be getting Nott home.” He frowned. “She should’ve finished our inventory by now.” He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Nott, where are you?” Caleb sighed as he looked across the street. “Yes, I know you’re at the bookshop, but you were supposed to come over here when you’re done.” A pause. “Fine, we’ll talk about this later. Don’t bother coming out now though, we’re calling it quits. I don’t like the look of this storm. I’ll be over in-” A loud crash interrupted him and all the power went out.

A whimper came out of Jester’s mouth unbiddened. She checked her phone and found less than 20 percent of her battery was left, so she couldn’t use it as a flashlight. Clutching the counter and closing her eyes, Jester hoped that if her eyes were shut tight enough she could ignore how dark it was. 

“The power pole was blown over and took out all the power with it,” Caleb said. “And it’s blocking the road so we’re trapped. Look, Nott I need you to stay put there.” He listened for a moment. “No, you can’t just cross the street. Those might be live wires out there. No, you can’t just jump over them! You’re going to have to wait till the power company takes care of it or confirms that the power lines aren’t dangerous.” Caleb covered his face with a hand. “No, yes, I’m worried about you too. There’s the emergency snack supply and probably a couple of blankets in the break room. The center’s probably the warmest, so stay in the cookbook section.” There was another pause. “Yes, I’ve got my medicine and I’ve got Frumpkin. You don’t need to worry about me. You just stay warm.” One more pause. “Ja, I love you too. Stay safe.” A sigh escaped Caleb as he turned off his phone.

“Um, can you turn your phone back on? You know, for light?” Jester asked hoping she didn’t sound too nervous.

“I’ll need to call the power company first,” Caleb said. “You’re not afraid of the dark are you?” Jester couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not.

Jester shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. “I’m fineEEEEEEE!” she screeched as the wind rattled the door.

“We should go in the back,” Caleb said. “It’ll be warmer away from the windows. You have flashlights here, right?”

“I don’t think so.”

Caleb sighed. “And I’m betting you don’t have any candles either.”

“We might actually? If we did, they’d be Molly’s.”

“We’ll replace them for her.”

Jester giggled. “He’ll appreciate that.”

“Ah, right.” Once they were in the back, Caleb set down his phone and pulled something out of his pocket. It might have been a lighter, but it was too dark to see. “Don’t tell Nott that I have this.” He peeled off his gloves and clicked on the lighter. Caleb stared at it for a moment almost mesmerized before handing it to Jester. “I, I’ll call about the power lines now.”

Jester held the lighter carefully as she searched Molly’s corner. He was always getting candles and stuff, so maybe he forgot something there. She dug around until she shoved in the back a few old tealights. “Got it!”

Caleb hung up his phone. “They won’t be able to do anything until tomorrow morning at the very earliest. Apparently there’s down power lines throughout the county.”

“So we’re stuck here,” Jester said trying her best not to freak out.

“Looks like it,” Caleb said. “I’m going to text Nott and then we can figure out what the heck we’re going to to do next.”

Jester lit two of the tealights and saved the rest for later. She handed Caleb his lighter after he finished his text, but he passed it back. “You keep it for now.”

“We should probably grab our coats,” Jester said. “It’s only going get colder.”

He followed her to the front and just stared out the window to the dark bookstore across the street.

“You’re worried about her aren’t you?”

Caleb nodded. “She’s all by herself and probably freezing. Smaller bodies tend to lose body heat faster.”

“Oh no! I hope she’s okay. Are you cold, Caleb?” Jester asked. “Cause you’re really tiny and scrawny too.”

“I’m fine.” Caleb moved back, but he grabbed his coat and put it on.

Jester wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she was not going to argue with him about it. “We should probably sleep soon.”

Caleb groaned. “You’re probably right. Do you think we can sleep on the tatoo chairs?” 

“Not really.” Jester pulled a face at the thought of it. “There’s an old futon in back. It’s busted and you can’t sit on the left side of it, but we can move the cushion on the floor.”

“Sounds good to me,” Caleb said, but he didn’t seem pleased with the idea of it. “Do you have anything to eat here?”

“I’ve got pastries in my bag. Are you hungry?”

Caleb shook his head. “Not really, but I have to eat something with my medicine. Do you have anything not pastry? Anything gluten free?”

“Beau keeps jerky at her desk,” Jester said. “Are you on a diet? Cause you’re already really super skinny.”

“Ja, I’m on the ‘gluten makes my body try to kill my small intestine’ diet also known at celiac disease. I’ll pay her back for it.” Caleb started to go through his pockets and pull out all sorts of medicine bottles.

Jester went through Beau’s station(which was forbidden, but this was an emergency) and grabbed the jerky and a water bottle while she was at it.

Caleb carefully read the medicine bottles by the dim candlelight. “Danke. Be sure to keep the doors closed. I’m sorry for being a burden.”

“It’s okay. I’d probably just be panicking if I was all alone.” After closing the door, Jester pushed the futon cushion onto the floor and adjusted it to be in a good position. “So I should be thanking you.”

“It’s nothing.” He took a bite of jerky and gnawed on it. 

“It’s not nothing to me. Can we leave the tealights on?”

Caleb swallowed his bite. “Only if you want the building to catch on fire.”

“Oh,” Jester said, but she ignored the dread building in her stomach. “It should be fine. I mean if we put out the lights. It’s not that dark.” That was a lie. It was that dark. Even with the little candles, it was way too dark.

Caleb popped a palm full of pills into his mouth and took a swig of water. “Alright, Frumpkin. You are now off duty.” He took the vest off of his cat. Frumpkin mewed headbutting Caleb. “I know that was way too long of a shift for you, but I’m all safe now.” Splitting the jerky in half, Caleb shared it with the cat. “You can pet him now.”

“Really?!” Jester scratched Frumpkin under the chin earning a purr. “Oh, Frumpkin, you are too cute and tiny.”

“He’s a good cat,” Caleb said. “So, how do you want to do this?”

“Do what?”

Caleb gestured at the futon. “Sleeping arrangement. Do we just trust that we’ll stay on our separate sides or do we need a barrier?”

“Sides?” Jester asked. “Um, I thought we were just going to share it.”

“Ja, but we can’t, you see, it’s,” Caleb sputtered. Jester was willing to bet that he was blushing a bright red by this point. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he said so softly she could barely hear him.

“Oh, I’m perfectly comfortable,” Jester said. “But you’re shivering and it’s probably going to get colder. We’re going to have to cuddle.”

Caleb jumped back. “What?!”

“Two bodies together are warmer than one. Three if you count Frumpkin. We don’t have any blankets here, but I’ve got some towels which should help,” Jester said.

“We don’t even know each other,” Caleb said.

Jester poked his nose which was cold. “I know that you are freezing and have like no body fat. Now stop being stubborn.”

“I’m not being stubborn,” Caleb muttered. “You don’t have to do this for my sake. I’ll be fine.”

Jester gathered all the towels from the closet. “This isn’t the same as blankets, but I think it will help. It’s not just for your sake. I’m going to get cold too and so will Frumpkin.”

“Fine,” Caleb finally agreed. “We’ll sleep side by side, but no cuddling.”

“Fine, no cuddling,” Jester said spreading out the towels. She sat down on the futon. “Um, can you put out the candles?”

Caleb fell silent for a long moment. “It might be better if you did it.”

“But I’m already sitting,” Jester said.

Caleb sighed. “Fine, there’s two candles and two of us. We’ll both put one out.”

Jester nodded despite her nerves. “Okay.” Her voice sounded small and scared even to her. She got up and went to the closest candle, but the tealights were close to each other so it didn’t make too much of a difference. The tealight only flickered when she blew at it.

“Blowing at it is not going to do anything,” Caleb said. “The best way to put out a light is to pinch it out.” Caleb licked his fingers and moved like he was going to pinch it, but he instead just poked at the fire instead and played with his fingers over the flame.

“Caleb?” Jester asked. She couldn’t see his face well, but something about it made her uncomfortable.

“Oh, right,” Caleb said pulling his hand back. “You put out your light out first.”

Jester licked her fingers and quickly pinched at the fire. It took her two tries to get it out, but it didn’t hurt as much as she was afraid that it would. She hurried back to the futon and set her phone on the floor next to it. “Done.”

Caleb lingered at the light, but finally he put it out and room was pitch dark. Jester closed her eye tightly. She felt the futon dip slightly next to her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jester said willing her voice to be light. “Here let’s cover up and just go to sleep.”

It took a little arranging to make their pile towels work as blankets and they were scratchy, but it was better than nothing. Jester feel Caleb pressed in next to her and how little heat he gave off. “It’s okay if you’re scared. It’s not the best situation,” Caleb said.

“I’m just not a big fan of the dark,” Jester said. “When I was a little girl there was a big earthquake in Nicodranas and all the lights went out and I was trapped and alone and it was super scary.”

“Well, you’re not alone now,” Caleb said. He leaned into her a little.

Jester smiled a little. “Thanks, Caleb. Can you keep talking? You know, until we go to sleep?”

“I can try. What should I talk about?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a story? Yeah, like a fairy tale.”

Caleb hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t really know any off the top of my head.”

“Then make one up,” Jester said.

“Alright.” Claeb took a breath. “Once upon a time there was a boy who was very sickly and his parents were very poor. So poor that they could not afford his medicine, so the,” he paused, “gods took the boy away from his loving parents. There was a wizard who was said to be good and wise and could make the boy healthy again, so the boy was given to him. But, the wizard was actually a cruel and wicked man, and while the boy grew healthier in body, his mind grew ill from the wizard’s cruelty.”

Jester pushed Caleb’s shoulder. “This story’s too sad.”

“It gets happier. I haven’t gotten to the princess yet,” Caleb said. “The sickly boy grew into a slightly less sickly young man. Then one day a princess was brought to the wizard’s home, and she was the tiniest princess.”

“Was she beautiful?”

The futon shifted as Caleb repositioned himself. “No, not really, but she was good and clever and helped the young man heal. He cared about her more than anything else in the world. They were best friends and closer than siblings. Soon after they met, the young man was sent away from the wizard’s.

“It should have been a happy occasion, but the young man grieved being away from the princess. He sunk into despair. But then he saw a vision of the princess and was reminded of all the good in the world. This set a fire in his heart, so he went to work. The young man disguised himself as a king and even managed to get himself a small kingdom. Finally, the princess was released from the wizard and the young man, now king, had earned the right to make the princess his heir.”

“And they lived happily ever after,” Jester said.

“Unfortunately that was not the case,” Caleb said. “The man was still very ill and had only a handful of years to live. But they were with the princess, so he was happy.”

Jester pouted. “That’s not a happy story.”

“Well, I did leave out the happiest part. One night, the man burned down the wizard’s house.” An odd joy filled Caleb’s voice.

“How’s that the happiest part?”

“Well, any story with a fire is automatically a happy story,” Caleb said.

Jester shook her head. “No, it’s not. This story’s kind of messed up.”

“Agree to disagree then,” Caleb said. “Maybe you’d prefer to hear about the last time Nott got her hand stuck in a vending machine.”

“Ooh, tell me more,” Jester giggled.

They both settled in more as Caleb told about how Nott thought she finally figured out how to best a vending machine. Soon Jester found herself nodding off and soon she was asleep.

********

Caleb woke up to to a jaunty tune about a king, and there was a heavy weight on his chest. At first he thought that Frumpkin was on his chest, but his cat was purring next to his head. All at once, Caleb remembered the events of the day before. He looked over to find Jester with her arm draped over him. The song continued to play next to the futon, but it suddenly started over.

He rolled away from Jester and checked the source of the song. It was Jester’s cellphone and it showed the name Molly on it. “Hello?” Caleb said. “Jester’s cell.”

“JESTER!” Caleb had to pull the phone away from his ear. “I just got your text.What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Ah, this isn’t Jester. This is her store neighbor Caleb Widogast. Do you want me to wake her up?” Caleb asked.

“Wake her up? Oh, ohhhhhh,” Molly said. There was something about that ‘oh’ that did not sit well with Caleb. “You don’t need to wake her for my sake. Let her sleep. I bet you two had an exhausting time last night.”

Caleb was already shaking Jester’s shoulder. “What are you talking about? I’m waking her up right now.”

“No worries. You two just snuggle up and enjoy the snow.”

“What, no, wait.” But the phone already hung up. Caleb checked the time; 4:24 AM. He laid back down since there was no point in being awake so early. 

Jester made a mumbling sound and cuddled in closer to him. Caleb moved to get away from her, but she just wrapped an arm around him and pulled him towards her. He wiggled but could not break away from her embrace. It was warm though and soft, and Caleb couldn’t help but lean back into her and fall back asleep.

********

When Jester opened her eyes, the room was completely dark which weird since she always left a nightlight on. Also, her bed felt weird and so did her body pillow. The pillow moved, and she realized that it was not her pillow at all. “Since you’re awake, can you let go of me now?” Caleb asked.

Jester quickly unwrapped her arms from around him. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, you were asleep, and I didn’t wake up until a few minutes ago.” Caleb got up and stretched. “Also, it was warm.” 

Jester crawled over to her phone and checked on it and, sure enough, the battery was completely dead. “Poo,” she mumbled to herself. Caleb also checked his, and light brightened the room a little.

“9:47,” Caleb said. He opened the door letting light into the back room. “Looks like the power company’s already here. No clue how long it will take them to clean everything up though. It’s freezing, but we can go to the front now.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Jester followed Caleb into the front, but she couldn’t help but feel an odd sort of lonely. 

Caleb went through his medicines again, filled his hand with pills and popped them in his mouth followed by a swig of water. His hands were all mottled and covered with burns. He seemed to notice her stare. “Ah, I don’t have the best track record with fire.”

“Do you want your lighter back?” Jester asked holding it out.

He started to reach for it, but at the last moment held back. “You keep it actually. I don’t really need it anyways.” With one last stare at the lighter, Caleb looked away and put back on his tight black gloves.

“Caleb?” Jester asked. “Are you okay?”

Caleb looked a little taken aback. “Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. That was just a sad story last night and I don’t know.”

“I’m … fine,” Caleb said. “You don’t need to worry about me.” He scooped Frumpkin up off the floor and put him in his service vest.

“Oh, okay,” Jester said. “Cause, if you’re ever not okay, you can talk to me. If you want. I’m pretty good for talking to.” She sat on the counter watching the workers clear the power lines off of the street.

A sad smile appeared on Caleb’s face. “Who knows? I might take you up on that offer someday.” He tried to climb up on the counter too, but he had no luck.

“Need some help?”

Caleb blushed. “Sure, but don’t tell Nott.”

Jester plucked Caleb up and set him on the counter next to her. “There. I should probably be working on inventory, but-” She stared outside. There was an odd stillness to the world.

“Ja,” Caleb said.

They watched the street silently; Caleb occasionally checking his phone. After ten minutes, he jumped down and ran to the window. Something moved across the street in the book store. Caleb dialed a number in his phone, but it sounded like he was sent directly to voicemail. “Her phone’s dead.” 

Across the street, Nott waved at them. Jester waved back. “Looks like she’s alright,” Jester said.

“Ja.” Caleb’s voice was full of relief.

“They should be finished with the powerlines soon.”

Caleb nodded his eyes not leaving Nott. 

Jester stood next to Caleb. “You’ll get back to your princess soon enough.”

“Ja.” 

One of the power workers knocked on the window and Jester opened the door. 

“Hey there folks. Just wanted to let you know that the road’s clear now and you’re all free to go,” the worker said. “We respectfully apologize for the inconvenience.”

Caleb didn’t even wait for the worker to finish before running across the street. Nott threw the door open and Caleb held her close. It felt so intimate that Jester had to look away. The pair went back into their store and that strange loneliness came to Jester.

Jester went back into her tattoo shop and packed her stuff up. It just was not a day for inventory. An indignant meow interrupted her. She looked up to see that Frumpkin was still there next to one of Caleb’s pill bottles. “Frumpkin! You’re supposed to be with Caleb or he dies!” Grabbing the pill bottle, Jester picked up Frumpkin. “Let’s get you home.”

Outside was about as cold as the front of the store. The snow hadn’t started to melt yet, so it wasn’t too slippery yet. It was weird how quiet the street was. Jester didn’t dare say anything to disturb the silence. Caleb opened the door before she finished crossing the street. “Frumpkin.”

“And your pills,” Jester said shaking the bottle. “Figured you needed these.”

“I do.” He fell quiet. “I’m sorry about last night.”

Jester shrugged him off. “You kept me warm too.”

Nott poked her head out. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing!” Caleb said too loudly. “Anyways, you still need to finish your inventory, ja? Nott and I got no place to be.”

“Sure!” Jester said. She was a little surprised by how eager she was to spend more time with Caleb.

Caleb smiled shyly. It was almost like he was thinking the same. “We’ll be right over then. And one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“During your breaks, if you want, you should stop by the bookstore. It’d be nice to get to know our neighbors more and maybe talk.” A blush slowly spread over his face.

Jester grinned. “Can I come by any day? Everyday?”

“Maybe?” Caleb said. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I do want to!” Jester felt her own face turning red. “Your store seems nice.”

“Yours too. Maybe I should get a tattoo there.”

Jester bounced at the possibilities. “I will make you the coolest tattoo ever.”

Caleb chuckled. “Well, I should gather Nott if we’re going to get your inventory done.”

“Oh right.” Jester watched him as he went back inside. It was the beginning of something; Jester knew it. The beginning of what, she didn’t know, but she was excited to see what would happen next.

**Author's Note:**

> Deleted scene: Jester comes home to find Molly there with a cake. She tells Molly about what all happened and Molly hurriedly goes to the kitchen for a knife and scrapes off the cake "Congrats on the sex".
> 
> If I can come up with a better title, I will rename this, but for now I sleep. I hope you all enjoyed this.


End file.
